


subtleties that we are not aware of

by flowersforgraves



Category: The Company - K. J. Parker
Genre: Drabble Collection, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 12:27:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20291449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowersforgraves/pseuds/flowersforgraves
Summary: One drabble for each of A Company after the war.





	subtleties that we are not aware of

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rivine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivine/gifts).

> [Depeche Mode's "Damaged People"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFr44J86qtg) is such a good song for A Company, guys.

i. 

After the war, Fly puts up a sign on the door, a display of his name and a rank he’s never held.

He isn’t rich, isn’t expecting to be rich, but he makes a living teaching swordsmanship to amateurs and pretenders, and he scrimps and saves enough to marry Enyo. It’s the best decision he’s ever made, because she is beautiful and clever and calls him out on his bullshit. Fly loves her more every day, and he swears he’s the luckiest man alive because she loves him back.

But Fly’s never been able to say no to Teuche Kunessin.

ii.

After the war, Kudei decides he’s going to work himself to death.

His brothers are shit at finance, shit at farming, shit at acting like humans. The farm’s going under, and it’s only Kudei’s linebreaker pay that keeps them afloat while Kudei buys new equipment and livestock to bring the farm back to life.

He avoids going into town. As much as he misses the easy camaraderie of the Faralia Boys, it’s more of an effort than he cares to make, keeping in touch. After Fly’s wedding, he doesn’t expect to see them again.

He wasn’t accounting for Teuche Kunessin.

iii.

After the war, Muri comes back to a home that isn’t there. 

On the good days he counts his lucky stars that he survived the war. He has a quiet life now, no broken bones or horrifying gore. He has a wife, and he loves her, and she loves him. On the bad days, he truly believes it would be better if he’d died in the war. He self-destructs, he drinks, he cries. When his wife dies, some of Muri dies too. More dies when Aidi arrests him.

The part of Muri that’s left is prime material for Teuche Kunessin.

iv. 

After the war, Aidi is at loose ends. 

It’s a challenge, almost, to build himself something new out of the ashes of the war. He takes that thought literally, and remodels the storefront of the building he buys with his army paycheck. It’s quicker and easier than he thought, and soon he’s done with the store, a successful project he’s reluctant to relinquish despite his sudden boredom. It’s another challenge, a game, practically, when he gets himself elected justice of the peace, just to see if he can.

No one knows Aidi’s love of a challenge better than Teuche Kunessin.

v. 

‘After the war’ doesn’t exist for Kunessin.

He stays in the service, mostly because he’s playing a long con. He is careful and meticulous in his planning, because he doesn’t know his subordinates as well as the Faralia Boys, and he refuses to be caught manipulating regulations. Kunessin is going to salvage a piece of land, a proper life, for himself and his people.

‘His people’ is a much narrower concept than anyone outside the Faralia Boys knows. They were six, and now they are five, and that number won’t fall again.

Teuche Kunessin goes home to collect his men.


End file.
